Seven guidelines for mobile recruitment

If your organisation wants to catch the best talent in the market, you have to take them on the move

By Madeline Laurano

August 13, 2012

CIO UK

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Consumerisation of enterprise technology is redefining today’s workforce. Employees accustomed to intuitive, on-demand, user experiences in personal consumer applications expect the same of business applications.

Recruiting technology is no exception. Data collected by Aberdeen between October and December 2011 revealed that 73 per cent of organisations are using or planning to use mobility to support recruiting efforts.

Yet, despite widespread mobile adoption, the debate continues as to how mobile should be leveraged to identify, attract and retain talent.

And, as new solution providers enter the market, reaching any decision about mobile recruitment becomes a challenge.

1.Create a Flexible Strategy As organisations expand globally, recruiters must comply to local laws, cultures, and recruiting practices.

For example, although 65 per cent of organisations featured in Aberdeen’s 2012 Debunking the Myth of Mobile Recruitment research report cited interview scheduling as the primary mobile technology use, actual mobile priorities vary greatly from region to region.

The CIO and HR must collaborate to create a mobile strategy that complies with all local practices.

2.Empower Current and Prospective EmployeesIt is no surprise that when it comes to innovation, even in the largest enterprises HR often lags behind other departments.

According to Aberdeen’s 2012 Quarterly Business Review data, 66 per cent of UK organisations have an internal mobile device management capability to respond to employee needs.

However, in many cases, mobile devices alone are not enough to connect with prospective employees.

For a mobile recruitment strategy to succeed it must offer services and devices that empower recruiters to communicate in real-time with both current and potential employees.

3.Consider Web-Based Career PagesA few years ago, there was a trend toward using mobile applications as the preferred option to connect with job seekers.

Today’s organisations seek to differentiate themselves through engaging career pages, taking advantage of improvements to HTML5.

These pages are easier to implement and more capable of supporting branding components.

CIO’s that want to get their enterprise’s mobile recruiting operational quickly must provide the tools for developing Web-based career pages, as a supplement or alternative to mobile or branded applications.

4.Encourage Text/Short Message Service (SMS)These are among the most popular uses of mobile, with potential candidates subscribing to receive alerts about job opportunities and related information.

Data from Aberdeen’s Q1 2012 Business Review indicate that, although 51 per cent of UK organisations require employees to use company-issued mobile devices, text activities on personal devices are often effective as well.

CIO’s must consider recruiting solutions that work on employee’s company-issued devices and the personal devices of both current and prospective employees.

5.Use Caution with Mobile ApplicationsMobile applications are in high demand, with 44 per cent of UK organisations offering enterprise-wide mobile applications.

However, organisations should use caution when investing in branded applications.

They are expensive and may not be the best option to identify and attract talent. For some organisations a strategy around text messaging and Web-based career pages is sufficient.

6.Focus on Candidate ExperienceBecause not all mobile providers offer adequate tools and functionality to create an enhanced candidate experience, it is not surprising that only 37 per cent of organisations identified in Aberdeen’s 2012 Debunking the Myth of Mobile Recruitment report are considering mobile recruitment solutions such as, corporate career pages and branding apps from third-party providers within the next 12 months.

Most available solutions provide basic capabilities for recruiters but do not offer functionality for job candidates to search and apply for jobs using mobile devices.

Therefore, CIO’s should work closely with recruiting teams to identify solutions that meet both recruiter and candidate needs, and subject these solutions to the same rigorous selection process applied to solutions for other parts of the enterprise.

If an organization uses an third-party applicant tracking system, it may offer these capabilities, even through mobile devices.

If organisations currently have policies against accessing social networks from within the enterprise, now is the time to reassess these policies since the popularity of these sites as recruitment tools is likely to grow.

Clearly, mobile is the future of any recruitment strategy.

But for mobile to succeed CIO’s must set the guidelines for HR professionals, offer technology options, and develop a flexible strategy to accommodate the changing user needs of the HR practitioner, and current and prospective employees.

Madeline Laurano is research director, talent acquisition solutions at Aberdeen Group